An Open Love Letter to @TheViralFever
Dear TVF
Finally someone said it loud. “तुम्हारे लिए नहीं करूँगा, अपने लिए करूँगा.”
All of us are working for ourselves and for our own satisfaction, and in that process, we affect other people’s lives in either good ways or bad ways. (Will come back to this later)
So in the Voice and baritone of Mandal “तुम्हारे लिए नहीं लिख रहा हूँ, अपने लिए लिख रहा हूँ...”
The scene which became a reason for me to write this, is when Navin delivers a speech about the WHY of Entrepreneurship (which I have been waiting to hear, be it anywhere, any Movie or any TV show or even in Real Life.)
The scene meant to me so much, not because of Navin’s outburst but because of Yogi who was standing behind, the real life, Arunabh Kumar alias The Qtiyapa Guy and the TVF team, who have already done, what Navin was saying in the speech.
What a brilliant way to say to the world “Did you see what I did there?”
That speech is, a करारा जवाब to the naysayers that Arunabh faced before he became @TheQtiyapaGuy. As if, through that scene Arunabh and Team were saying
“देखा काम करके फाड़ दिया”.
मेरी राय में ये शो वो कहानी कह रहा है जिसका सामने आना बहुत जरुरी था.
ये शो कहानी कह भी रहा है और कहानी बदल भी रहा है. (कहानी Indian TV की).
और इस बदलाव का आना बहुत जरुरी हो गया था. (Kyuki Indian TV bhi kabhi Achha tha).
There are various people who must have seen TV shows of abroad like Prison Break, Friends, Game of Thrones and many others in crazy manners .Watching all episodes of a season or more in one go. The same people can’t stand current Indian TV even for a minute.
Reason as Yogi would have said:-
Yogi- भेन्चो Toss कर के Script लिखते हैं ये TV वाले.
Mandal-: What do you mean ?
Yogi:- Head आया तो 20 years Leap, Tail आया तो Plastic surgery.
Mandal:- पर Serial तो Historical है ना, महाराणा प्रताप ?
Yogi:- भोसड़ी-के ज्यादा मुंह मत खोल.
खैर
Indian TV is trying so hard to entertain for the sake of entertaining बस Entertain कर नहीं पा रहे .
For today’s Indian TV Rudyard Kipling once said “Indian TV and Logic are at a parallel distance with each other and Never the Twain Shall Meet.”
Mandal- पर ये बात तो Kipling ने कभी कही ही नहीं..
Navin- हाँ यार वो Frustration में निकल गया. वैसे भी quote के आगे किसी personality का नाम लगा दो तो impact double हो जाता है.
Point is TVF Pitchers is a revolutionary show: Period.
Let’s have a look at few aspects of TVF Pitchers which are worth a lesson.
(Btw all this started with “Adha 24 and gained momentum with “Permanent Roommates”)
1. Episodes end when they have to. Time length doesn’t matter.
2. It is on the web .Watch it anywhere, anytime, any no. of times.
3. Focus is on the script. Strong writing is what TVF has never lost it eyes on.
4. Performances and Back Ground Score is always spot on and adds so much to the scenes.
5. Using expletives in the conversation. कोई ग्रेजुएशन का छात्र बिना गाली सुने डिग्री नहीं पा सकता, और जिसने यारों दोस्तों की गाली नहीं सुनी है, वो कुछ खो रहा है जीवन मे. Kudos to TVF for adding Lovable In-Conversation गालियाँ in dialogues.
6. References: - By adding so many references from Movies, Songs, Ads etc. to the script, you have made a point that you don’t consider your audiences as idiots.
इस बात के लिए तहे दिल से शुक्रिया [इतना समझदार आज तक किसी ने नहीं समझा था, (आंसू पोछते हुए)]
Udaan, Wolf of Wall Street, The Social Network, Back street Boys :-Alright ,3 Idiots, पति पत्नी और वो . The ads ofHousing.com Snapdeal.com and the Grand Daddy, Steve Jobs.
बस दो शब्द. वाह साहब.
And Special mention for the 3rd Episode’s last scene with जो जीता वही सिकंदर song. It’s going to be a cult scene and will be copied in many ways. Such a great timing and it carries the story forward in such a genius manner. Simply superb. (Would like to know how it came into being).
7. I don’t remember when was the last time we had the privilege of having good songs in a TV series. The last song from a TV series that I can recognize is “Kyuki Saas bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, tanan tanan tan. tang dang” and that too because it was used in the opening sequence of Gangs of Wasseypur and I watched it thrice. (15 साल पहले भी इतनी अकाल तो थी की ये serial तो नहीं देखना है).
Kashyap shot that TV metaphorically. Pitchers is doing it literally.
वापस topic पर ,
क्या तो गाने लिखे हैं …
1. “you forget what you came here for”
2. “One Step at a Time”
3. “I can not wait..”
4. Adani, Angry Gamer Back Ground Score.
कमाल है …
8. The particular moment at which the title track and credit starts is one defining moment of the episodes.
a). “अब इसको ना (Company ID Card), कचरे मे फेंक दे”
b). “Actually आरती मैं तुम्हे इसी बारे में बताना चाह रहा था.
c). “नवीन नहीं ,पार्थ ”
d). “पप्पी यहाँ लेगा या बाथ-रूम में.”.
The one liner and the music thereafter, There is a Wow factor in those moments.
9. Production value is quite good and very apt.
10. Actors are living the characters. Brilliant performances.
11. Picking up underrated actors, even for minor characters. (Gary, Father of Jeetu, Ravi Ram Rastogi, बस अब करुनेश को भी दिखा दो सैंडो गंजी में, इवेंट में.)
12. Fabulous writing. मनोहर श्याम जोशी जी की आत्मा आप लोगों को आशीर्वाद दे रही होगी.
खैर, काफी तारीफ़ हो गयी...
तो बात का तात्पर्य ये है कि TVF has brought a lot of changes and that too for good.
After a long time things seem to be moving in right direction for content with Episodic Series.
People are writing new stories for web. Stories which will have an End.
(Unlike Indian TV Serials which have the highest ductile strength in entire universe).
Now Web as a proven platform, all people need is to create good content. Even if they do it for their own satisfaction, the efforts will trickle down and will help in giving space to more people who have better stories to tell.
In the end, let’s hope the Product (Navin’s Idea) which is “Quite Interesting” ( I attended that NASSCOM Conclave yaar) and on which, Pitchers is based, won’t take as long as “Winter is Coming” has taken and we will get to see it in the 5th episode, and most probably a second season as well.
(गैरी ने तो 51% शेयर मांगे थे, मैं तो बस 5th एपिसोड और 2nd सीजन मांग रहा हूँ.)
Looking forward to it.
तुम्हारा अपना, Audience…
